Presentation Advisors Blog

4 Important Takeaways from Dan Zarrella's "Science of Presentations" White Paper

Full Disclosure: I have no affiliation with Hubspot and wrote this post on my own accord.

Over at Hubspot, a company that is undoubtedly going to take over the world soon, Social Media Scientist Dan Zarrella is hosting a free webinar on the Science of Presentations: How to Give Contagious Talks. Being a presentation junkie, when I saw the email invitation I immediately registered. Luckily, Dan has written an accompanying white paper of the same name outlining his research and findings.  To get the white paper, you'll have to register for the free webinar.

At first I thought, “Who does Dan think he is? I realize he knows a ton about the science of social media, but what does he know about presentations (other than his own personal experience as a speaker/presenter)?” Of course, my narrow-mindedness failed me. Dan has done some interesting research on the best ways to get people to Tweet or blog about your live presentations.

It’s so interesting to see how this topic has emerged in the last few years. I’ve been studying presenting and marketing communications for years, and real-time information sharing has become a powerful tool for presenters and audience members alike. Dan has shared the best ways to get your audience to share the information you, the presenter, are providing in order to give contagious presentations.

It is not my intent to give away all of his research. Instead, I wanted to provide my reaction and thoughts to his white paper. I suggest you read the white paper first before reading my reactions, but I’ll try to keep them high level if you’d rather forego reading it. Of course, sign up for his free webinar on Thursday, August 19th at 1pm EST.

Without further ado, here are 4 important takeaways from Dan’s Science of Presentations white paper:

1. 75% of those surveyed live-Tweet during a presentation
   Twitter has become a backchannel for audiences to share information and reactions with each other and their respective networks. I’ve attended many conferences and webinars and I’ve come to LOVE live-Tweeting for two reasons: 1) I feel that I’m sharing valuable nuggets of information with my followers and 2) I can connect with other audience members who share the same interests. Presenters generally love active backchannels (especially positive ones!) and I’ve been thanked personally by a few presenters who appreciated my live-Tweeting of their talk.
   
   My only hesitation with this stat is that he surveyed people who were marketers or at least interested in social media. I’ve hosted and attended a variety of presentations and webinars where the topics were far removed from marketing/media and the backchannels were completely silent. The audience members simply weren’t active on these channels (yet), so don’t get discouraged if your backchannel isn’t what you’d hoped it would be.


2. 52% of those surveyed had joined because they saw a live tweet about a presentation
   I would have also responded yes, and this is another powerful aspect of a real-time backchannel. There are so many conferences and webinars going on every day that we can’t possibly keep up with all those that interest us. If you encourage your audience to live-tweet or to be active in wherever the backchannel lives, you can grow your audience. If you run a conference, it’s definitely feasible to think that promoting the sharing of information via the backchannel will expose the valuable information found at the conference to people who were unaware of its existence, resulting in those attendees joining next time. The 140 Conference sells tickets to attend, but streams every talk for free on UStream and the backchannel is incredibly active. Trust me, you’re not giving away the farm for free if you do this…it will only make people watching want to attend in person next time.


3. Sharing, novelty, and relevance were the top 3 reasons those surveyed Tweet or blog about a presentation
   According to those surveyed, audience members live-Tweet or blog during presentations because they want to share new, relevant information. This ultimately helps the exposure of you and your content (as the presenter), so encourage viewers to “Be kind and share”, make sure your presentation contains new, relevant, and laser-focused information they haven’t heard yet.


4. Focus on ReTweets by scheduling Tweets of takeaways by the presenter during the presentation, or by post-presentation Tweeting
   I love this idea and I have to admit, I’d never really thought of it. While sometimes the backchannel is wonderfully active in grabbing all of your sound bytes (which should purposefully be presented in sub-140 characters), sometimes it is not. Regardless, if you provide Tweets of your presentation content on your own account (either during or after) you can plant the seed to be spread by your audience members. If you can effectively time your presentation, you can schedule tweets to go out a few minutes after you intend to actually present a specific sound byte. Instead of feverishly typing in a quote of yours, an audience member may be able to focus a little better because they know they’ll be able to ReTweet all the important information via your account. Regardless, it helps focus your content, reiterate your core points, and offer them in an easily spreadable fashion. 

Of course, to get the full understanding of Dan's research you should register for and attend the webinar. I’ll certainly be active on the back channel. Oh, and yes, I’m thoroughly offended that I wasn’t asked to give my perspective as one of the “expert presenters.” :op

Ten Tips for Delivering a Kick-Butt Virtual Presentation

Author's Note:  I use "webinar" and "virtual presentation" interchangeably.  It's not grammatically proper to interchange the terms, but I like it that way.  I'm sorry.

One topic that is not often covered in the presentation and PowerPoint design realm is the webinar (a.k.a. virtual presentation, web conference, online seminar, e-seminar, web seminar, etc).  I've been involved with literally hundreds of webinars and the preparation, delivery, and follow up is not the same as delivering a presentation in person.  There are a lot of pitfalls that the average presenter (who is unfamiliar with presenting virtually) won't even see coming.  Not only that, but the audience has a much different perspective as well, thus they have different needs than if they were right in front of you.

Each day we're becoming a more virtual world, and with companies like Dim Dim that allowing anyone to host a free webinar, many companies are choosing to cut costs and present virtually.  Thus, I've put together ten tips for delivering a virtual presentation. 

1. Keep Your Design SIMPLE
   Most webinar software allows you to either share your desktop or upload the presentation directly into the webinar platform.  Unless you're doing a live demo, I never recommend sharing your desktop.  It's a little too impersonal (people see your desktop, files, etc) and the presentation controls can't be passed to one another (to advance the slides), which poses a problem when there are multiple presenters.  If possible, I recommend uploading the presentation directly.  Unfortunately, most webinar software is limited in their ability to handle PowerPoint graphics and animations.  Even something that seems basic, like a gradient, can show up horribly wrong once you are presenting live.  Thus, keep your presentation as simple as possible.  Use solid color backgrounds, Microsoft Windows compatible fonts, limit curved shapes (they end up looking jagged), and make sure your images are as high-resolution as possible.  Never present live without testing your presentation first (see Tip #10 for more).


2. Avoid the Slideument at ALL COSTS
   I've spoken at length about the dangers of a slideument, so click here if you need a definition.  Many presenters believe that they need MORE information on the screen to make up for the absence of any real visual (unless you're using a web-cam or presenting in Second Life!).  This leads to the slideument, and it can ruin your presentation.  Please understand that your audience will not pay more attention to you if there's more information on the screen.  Actually, they'll tune you out while they read.  Or most likely tune the presentation out completely. 
   
   Keep your design simple, with as little text as possible, and allow them to listen to you instead of reading your slides.  Create one version of your presentation, full of vivid imagery and little text, to use during the presentation.  Then create a second version with as much detail as you'd like to act as the leave-behind.  You could even create an eBook version of your presentation (if you deliver it often enough) to give them afterwards.  Most webinars can be recorded as well, so you don't have to sacrifice presentation quality to try and kill two birds with one stone.


3. It's Okay to Cheat
   While there are disadvantages to presenting virtually instead of personally, there are a few advantages, one of those being the fact that the audience can't see you.  This gives you the ability to have your notes in front of you.  Now don't get me wrong - this DOESN'T mean I suggest you read from your notes.  However, you can relax (a little) because you can stay on track and worry a little less about forgetting content.  It also means that you can put EVEN LESS text on your screen, giving your audience better visuals.  One tip is to print your slides in "notes" mode, which prints the slide on top and your notes on the bottom.  This doesn't mean you can slack on practicing delivering your presentation either!


4. Find Ways to Interact With Your Audience
   Without face-to-face, personal contact, it's difficult to interact with your audience.  In order to keep your audience's interest piqued, find ways to interact with them.  Nearly all webinar platforms offer ways to ask polling questions and immediately report on them.  You can even poll them to determine what content you'll focus on.  As a presenter you may feel like you're in a vortex, but remember that there are real faces on the other side of that monitor and you're fighting to keep their attention against the threat of multi-tasking. 


5. Limit Audience Distractions
   Since I first got involved in webinars, the software has continually evolved, adding seemingly endless buttons for the audience to use.  This is just my personal opinion, but I hate them.  There are buttons to raise a hand, multiple places to send text to the hosts, and even an exclamation point of which I have no idea what it signifies.  As an audience member who can't physically see the presenter, your mind may wander and start clicking.  I understand that.  But it distracts the audience member and also distracts the host who sees these alerts popping up all the time.  So go to the "Preferences" tab and turn all these off.  Only allow them to ask questions.  It may seem harsh, but I believe it will do both the audience and presenter some good.


6. Never Go At It Alone
   It's nearly impossible to host a true, interactive webinar on your own.  I always suggest having a moderator/assistant to manage all of the technical issues while you can focus on presenting.  The moderator will give announcements before the presentation, filter and field questions and concerns, open/close the poll questions, handle technical problems, and more.  It will take a load of your shoulders as a presenter and free you to focus on delivering the best presentation you can.


7. Follow Up with Every Question
   Webinar attendees are taking time out of their day in the office to listen and learn, so please respect their time and finish when you say you'll finish.  Because of this, you'll sometimes not be able to get to every question.  As an audience member (and I've been one many times), when you ask a question you feel like it goes into a black hole, with no idea if you'll actually get an answer.  Make sure as a subject matter expert that you answer all the questions.  If you can't get to them live, you can record their name/email and follow up personally.  Another great option is to record ALL the questions and answer them on your blog. 


8. Know the Limitations of the Software
   As I mentioned in point #1, webinar software can be limiting.  You need to be familiar with it inside and out in order to avoid any unforeseen mistakes.  Know what you can and can't do with your presentation design.  Are you presenting on a Mac or a PC?  Because you animations sometimes don't work with a Mac.  Sometimes you can't record on a Mac as well.  Do you know how the software captures audio for recording?  Can you use the teleconference or does it have to be via a microphone?  What are the pre-webinar options?  If you're just the presenter and the moderator knows the ins and outs, make sure he/she briefs you on what to watch out for. 


9. Avoid the Sales Pitch
   This applies to all presentations, not just webinars, but most webinars are business-based.  Especially if the audience is paying to attend it, make sure you're offering valuable, entertaining content and avoid pitching your services.  Since it only takes a single click to bail on a presentation, once you start going down the "sales pitch" road you'll see those attendees numbers start plummeting.  If you deliver a great presentation and your audience feels they've come away with something of great value, they'll think of you down the road if the business opportunity arises.  If you're called out for tricking them into a 60-minute sales pitch, I can assure you you won't get a single customer.


10. Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice
    Did you think you were going to get away without practicing?  Especially when it comes to virtual presentations, practice is essential.  Not only practice your content, but practice your presentation within the software platform and with your fellow presenters if necessary.  A best practice is to set aside enough time to run through the presentation in its entirety on the software with the presentation team (if there is one).  If you can't get this time, at least find 15 minutes to make sure that everyone is familiar with how the webinar platform works.  You'll need to get used to presenting virtually and within a strange platform.  And naturally, practice will only help your delivery.

I'm by no means an expert on all things webinars, however I have had much experience with them.  If you'd like to learn more about delivering successful webinars, head over to Ken Molay's Webinar Blog.  He also has his own post offering 5 tips for webinar/webcast speakers.

What have your experiences been?  What other tips do you have?